LEJOG day 59: Fort William to South Laggan
OK, people, let's get started, because today I have a lot to talk about for the first time in ages. Now, I learnt how to bullshit write essays from the good people at Cambridge, through the time-honoured practice of "giving essays apparently random marks using a different grading system from the final exam and with no explanation of the mark you received" so naturally, this is going to be great. The only thing I really recall is that you're supposed to tell your audience what you're going to say, then say it, then tell them what you've said- although I'm not sure if that applies only to lectures.
In that spirit, I'm going to talk to you about my day off in Fort William, then about the walk today, then about my dinner that I have just eaten. I hope you're ready for this fascinating treatise (don't tell me if I'm using words wrong, I don't want to hear it).
So: day off in Fort William. As discussed in my last post, Fort William is a slightly odd place with no cinema but no fewer than five outdoor stores (I counted) and two long-distance trails. It's also at the bottom of the tallest mountain in the UK and lies at roughly sea level, so unlike some mountains if you climb Ben Nevis you really have to climb the whole thing- you can't drive halfway up to start, or get a train like on Snowdon.
I mention this for a reason: the book I used planning this ridiculous jaunt is written by an Andrew McCloy, who has a bit of a thing for Ben Nevis, it would seem. I didn't bring the book with me, so I've not had the joy of his occasionally ridiculous suggestions (read Mark Moxon's blog for those), but I really clearly remember laughing out loud at the Fort William section, even when sitting comfortably in my pyjamas in a flat in Swansea drinking tea and giving myself RSI route-planning. Why did I laugh? Because even then Mr McCloy's suggestion that I climb Ben Nevis on a day off while walking the length of the country was clearly ridiculous. He suggests it would be "churlish" not to. 'Well, I've already climbed it on the Three Peaks challenge so that idea can go die in a hole, quite frankly,' I thought, and The Ben (apparently you can call it that once you've climbed it) remained un-assaulted and un-summitted by me on this visit.
Fort William was oddly and utterly unfamiliar to me while I walked around, with no tugs at the strings of memory whatsoever- which I found very peculiar, because when I was here nearly 6 years ago we spent what felt like ages walking around trying to find something to eat. I don't know why it took us so long because the high street is stuffed with pubs and cafés and I can't believe none of them existed half a decade ago (oh Lord I feel old). I did eventually walk far enough to stumble on a chippy I recognised.
I achieved one major thing on my tour of the town: I got new boots. I loved my old boots, but they've been leaking for 500 miles and the soles were worn to the point that I thought they weren't going to make it. I was going to return them on account of the leaking anyway, but the soles made it a pressing issue to get a new pair. So I waltzed into Cotswold Outdoor, all prepared to use my charm and powers of persuasion to get a refund on a pair of boots I've walked over 1,000 miles in (training, yo) and which are clearly not new, and was pleased to have to use none of it- I said "they're six months old and they're leaking" and the lady behind the till said "that's not right, we'll sort that out for you" and that's how a brand-new pair are on their way to my parents' house as we speak- for free. I bought myself some nice soft canvas/Goretex replacements for the next 200 miles, took a photo of my old friends, and skipped off.
That's enough about that: onto today's walk. I've been worrying about this: nearly 23 miles of uncertain terrain, in new boots and less than a week after spraining my ankle. On this occasion, I was right to worry. The path was great, but my ankle didn't take too kindly to being walked on for seven hours with less support than it's used to, and the new boots have caused problems.
The first problem is blisters, particularly one on my right heel where I think the insole is rubbing. I seem to have a similar but much smaller rub on the left foot, too - both are going to be covered with blister plasters for tomorrow's walk, but there's only so much they can do. The other problem is this: imagine, if you will, you've walked 900 miles, gradually wearing down the outer edge of the sole on each boot- and then you get a new pair of boots and walk 22 miles on flat, hard surfaces in them. I've gone from walking on the outside of my feet to walking with them flat overnight, and my joints and muscles do not approve at all. I suspect that this has contributed somewhat to the blisters, too, but what I'm really noticing is my knees and feet ache a lot more than usual.
The walk itself wasn't enough to distract me, either. When I set out, the cloud and mist combined to make walking through the woods feel like a scene in a film- right before the bad guys jump out and slaughter everyone. The woods themselves had nothing wrong with them, but being Forest Commission were very similar to the woods I walked through on the West Highland Way and also most of the Northumberland part of the Pennine Way, so forgive me if I don't skip for joy on my blistered feet over the sheer novelty of it all. The only thing that was different was that it was all eerily quiet - other than yours truly clumping about, I barely heard a sound all day. It left me very little to pay attention to other than all the things which hurt, and made a lot of today feel like a slog. I was looking forward to all the boating activity on the Caledonian Canal, which joins the East and West coasts and provides a shortcut to avoid going all the way around the North of Scotland, but apparently a memo went out and I only saw about three craft all day.
Finally: dinner. The Great Glen Hostel, where I'm staying, is a mile from the nearest place to get a meal, which is a barge at Laggan Locks called "the Eagle", and I didn't think I'd be walking two extra miles today for that. The hostel itself doesn't provide meals at all. So in Cotswold Outdoor, I invested in precisely two campers' meals of the type where you pour some hot water into a pouch of dried things, stir it all up, leave it a while and then eat the lot straight out of the bag like the truly class act you are. I was excited, and then anxious, about these, because they're basically a slight improvement on a pot noodle and although the pack is 600 calories, which is a surprising amount for something which starts off weighing 150g, that's really not a lot when you consider one can easily burn 3,000 in a day of hiking. However, it was surprisingly similar to actual food and produced a decent amount, although I'm getting hungry again now, an hour later - which sounds to me like a perfect excuse to eat some of the snacks I've been carrying around and failing to eat.
So there we go: I had a day off in Fort William, bought new boots, walked a long way in them today, and have eaten dinner. An important milestone today: as of 3:40pm, I've finally eaten all the food that was in my backpack when I left Land's End. I'm both proud and ashamed.
Distance walked: 22.2 miles
Time taken: 7h10
Percentage complete: 83.6%
Miles left to walk: 185
Days since I was last rained on: 1 (nothing today I'd have put the waterproofs on for, although I was already wearing them so may be biased)
Lunch: tuna and cucumber sandwich and wotsits; an apple and chocolate-and-nuts as snacks
Last night's B&B: Craig Nevis, Fort William: they were very impressed by me; the room was clean and reasonably sized but the bathroom separate, downstairs and directly opposite the front door, which was usually open, and next to the kitchen and dining room, which meant every shower was followed by interacting with other humans while wearing just a towel because I refuse to dress in steam if I don't have to
You know why there was a war against hat pins? Women were using them against men who groped them on trains
The ODDEST collection of things to be put on a sign for a service station
Atmospheric misty photos coming up...
In that spirit, I'm going to talk to you about my day off in Fort William, then about the walk today, then about my dinner that I have just eaten. I hope you're ready for this fascinating treatise (don't tell me if I'm using words wrong, I don't want to hear it).
So: day off in Fort William. As discussed in my last post, Fort William is a slightly odd place with no cinema but no fewer than five outdoor stores (I counted) and two long-distance trails. It's also at the bottom of the tallest mountain in the UK and lies at roughly sea level, so unlike some mountains if you climb Ben Nevis you really have to climb the whole thing- you can't drive halfway up to start, or get a train like on Snowdon.
I mention this for a reason: the book I used planning this ridiculous jaunt is written by an Andrew McCloy, who has a bit of a thing for Ben Nevis, it would seem. I didn't bring the book with me, so I've not had the joy of his occasionally ridiculous suggestions (read Mark Moxon's blog for those), but I really clearly remember laughing out loud at the Fort William section, even when sitting comfortably in my pyjamas in a flat in Swansea drinking tea and giving myself RSI route-planning. Why did I laugh? Because even then Mr McCloy's suggestion that I climb Ben Nevis on a day off while walking the length of the country was clearly ridiculous. He suggests it would be "churlish" not to. 'Well, I've already climbed it on the Three Peaks challenge so that idea can go die in a hole, quite frankly,' I thought, and The Ben (apparently you can call it that once you've climbed it) remained un-assaulted and un-summitted by me on this visit.
Fort William was oddly and utterly unfamiliar to me while I walked around, with no tugs at the strings of memory whatsoever- which I found very peculiar, because when I was here nearly 6 years ago we spent what felt like ages walking around trying to find something to eat. I don't know why it took us so long because the high street is stuffed with pubs and cafés and I can't believe none of them existed half a decade ago (oh Lord I feel old). I did eventually walk far enough to stumble on a chippy I recognised.
I achieved one major thing on my tour of the town: I got new boots. I loved my old boots, but they've been leaking for 500 miles and the soles were worn to the point that I thought they weren't going to make it. I was going to return them on account of the leaking anyway, but the soles made it a pressing issue to get a new pair. So I waltzed into Cotswold Outdoor, all prepared to use my charm and powers of persuasion to get a refund on a pair of boots I've walked over 1,000 miles in (training, yo) and which are clearly not new, and was pleased to have to use none of it- I said "they're six months old and they're leaking" and the lady behind the till said "that's not right, we'll sort that out for you" and that's how a brand-new pair are on their way to my parents' house as we speak- for free. I bought myself some nice soft canvas/Goretex replacements for the next 200 miles, took a photo of my old friends, and skipped off.
That's enough about that: onto today's walk. I've been worrying about this: nearly 23 miles of uncertain terrain, in new boots and less than a week after spraining my ankle. On this occasion, I was right to worry. The path was great, but my ankle didn't take too kindly to being walked on for seven hours with less support than it's used to, and the new boots have caused problems.
The first problem is blisters, particularly one on my right heel where I think the insole is rubbing. I seem to have a similar but much smaller rub on the left foot, too - both are going to be covered with blister plasters for tomorrow's walk, but there's only so much they can do. The other problem is this: imagine, if you will, you've walked 900 miles, gradually wearing down the outer edge of the sole on each boot- and then you get a new pair of boots and walk 22 miles on flat, hard surfaces in them. I've gone from walking on the outside of my feet to walking with them flat overnight, and my joints and muscles do not approve at all. I suspect that this has contributed somewhat to the blisters, too, but what I'm really noticing is my knees and feet ache a lot more than usual.
The walk itself wasn't enough to distract me, either. When I set out, the cloud and mist combined to make walking through the woods feel like a scene in a film- right before the bad guys jump out and slaughter everyone. The woods themselves had nothing wrong with them, but being Forest Commission were very similar to the woods I walked through on the West Highland Way and also most of the Northumberland part of the Pennine Way, so forgive me if I don't skip for joy on my blistered feet over the sheer novelty of it all. The only thing that was different was that it was all eerily quiet - other than yours truly clumping about, I barely heard a sound all day. It left me very little to pay attention to other than all the things which hurt, and made a lot of today feel like a slog. I was looking forward to all the boating activity on the Caledonian Canal, which joins the East and West coasts and provides a shortcut to avoid going all the way around the North of Scotland, but apparently a memo went out and I only saw about three craft all day.
Finally: dinner. The Great Glen Hostel, where I'm staying, is a mile from the nearest place to get a meal, which is a barge at Laggan Locks called "the Eagle", and I didn't think I'd be walking two extra miles today for that. The hostel itself doesn't provide meals at all. So in Cotswold Outdoor, I invested in precisely two campers' meals of the type where you pour some hot water into a pouch of dried things, stir it all up, leave it a while and then eat the lot straight out of the bag like the truly class act you are. I was excited, and then anxious, about these, because they're basically a slight improvement on a pot noodle and although the pack is 600 calories, which is a surprising amount for something which starts off weighing 150g, that's really not a lot when you consider one can easily burn 3,000 in a day of hiking. However, it was surprisingly similar to actual food and produced a decent amount, although I'm getting hungry again now, an hour later - which sounds to me like a perfect excuse to eat some of the snacks I've been carrying around and failing to eat.
So there we go: I had a day off in Fort William, bought new boots, walked a long way in them today, and have eaten dinner. An important milestone today: as of 3:40pm, I've finally eaten all the food that was in my backpack when I left Land's End. I'm both proud and ashamed.
Distance walked: 22.2 miles
Time taken: 7h10
Percentage complete: 83.6%
Miles left to walk: 185
Days since I was last rained on: 1 (nothing today I'd have put the waterproofs on for, although I was already wearing them so may be biased)
Lunch: tuna and cucumber sandwich and wotsits; an apple and chocolate-and-nuts as snacks
Last night's B&B: Craig Nevis, Fort William: they were very impressed by me; the room was clean and reasonably sized but the bathroom separate, downstairs and directly opposite the front door, which was usually open, and next to the kitchen and dining room, which meant every shower was followed by interacting with other humans while wearing just a towel because I refuse to dress in steam if I don't have to
I can take some of the credit for eating the well travelled snacks so I'm happy to bear some of the shame for you if that helps?
ReplyDelete